From SOLDIER with Love
by x-YaoiWolf-x
Summary: SOLDIER, a group of five notorious thieves, are at it again. Causing mischief wherever they may roam and enjoying their lives. To Cid, cheif of police, they're nothing but one goddess damned headache and then some. ASGZC. Rated M just in case. Yaoi. Read ANs for more info. *This began as a oneshot but has grown. Plot is iffy right now. PM if you have suggestions/requests/ideas.*
1. Witty Banter

**Title: **Wanted Dead or Alive  
**Author: **x-YaoiWolf-x  
**Rating: **M for anything that happens or may happen in the future  
**Warning: **I think I manage to keep to the basic character of everyone, but I apologize now for any OOC-ness. Yaoi, Slash, MxM, MalexMale, Etc. This is basically ASGZC with some minimal (practically non-existent) CidxVincent and intermingling of the Turks. You've been warned. If you don't like these facts, don't read the story. Simple as that.  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy VII or it's amazing sexy gorgeous characters. They're not mine. Devastating, I know. If they _were_ mine, ASGZC would be way more obvious and undeniably canon.

**A/N: **It's taken more than a year, but finally I can upload this! It originated from my Advent Calendar 2011 from the song Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi. Now, I've managed to get a chapter written. So, here it is.

**Wanted Dead or Alive**

-x-x-x-

**Chapter One: Witty Banter**

The thief snickered victoriously, gracefully landing in the seat of his massive motorcycle and speeding off through the less crowded streets of Midgar at night. The over-sized sword on his back glinted teasingly in the moonlight as the police chief watched him go, grudgingly accepting the futility of trying to catch up with the notorious blonde crook.

_SOLDER strikes again! ~Fenrir_, the card in his hand read. He flipped it over and puzzled over the next clue. _PS. Beware of falling Puppies in Flower Beds._

What the hell did that mean?

Cid cursed up a storm, throwing his cigarette in frustration at the wanted poster silently mocking him from where it hung on the wall beside him. He scowled when he noticed that the sly brat had taken the time to autograph the blasted thing. "Curse those Gaia damned SOLDIER bastards."

~x~x~x~x~x~

Cloud huffed in amused laughter as he dropped to lounge across the couch and immediately closed his eyes. His fingers absently combed through fine auburn hair where Genesis' head leaned back against the seat of the couch by his hand. "I swear you just write the first random phrase that pops into your head when you write out the clues," the blonde smirked in the redhead's direction, not bothering to open his eyes. He was tired. Thieving wasn't easy… well, it sort of was, actually, for them; but it still required a bit of a work out when they were showing off while 'running' from the cops.

Genesis snorted. "_You_ try to come up with catchy little phrases that are meant to seem like they hold cryptic hints but are really just there to mess with people's heads."

Cloud laughed and gave a dismissive shrug. "You enjoy it."

Genesis huffed and rolled his eyes, only just resisting the urge to stick out his tongue like a five-year-old.

A deep chuckle came from behind at that moment and they craned their necks to try and see who it was even though they already knew.

Angeal shook his head, arms crossed in their usual manner, and an amused smirk on his face. "Hello," he greeted, making his way to the kitchen to start dinner. "How'd it go?"

Cloud had gone back to half-rest mode and just uttered a noncommittal hum of general pleasure that was meant to say 'it's all good' without words. Genesis, however, grinned a mile wide and turned his face to watch Angeal work.

"Marvelously. Those fools never knew what hit them." Genesis saw Angeal quirk an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes. "Well, in a figurative sense, anyway." He waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "_Of course _they knew it was us, they always do. We _tell _them as much. It's the principle of it, Angeal. We went in, grabbed the goods, got out in record time, right under their noses, plain as day, and they _still _couldn't do anything about it," At this Genesis' grin turned slightly feral. "I call that absolute perfection."

"And, combined with our own complete and utter victory," an unmistakable purr announced suddenly. "_I _say it calls for celebratory dessert… ah, desserts." Sephiroth corrected himself, putting emphasis on the plural with a heavy sensual cadence as he bent over the arm of the couch and captured Cloud's slightly smirking lips in a demanding upside-down kiss.

Genesis licked his lips from where he sat watching, a delighted smirk forming. Dessert sounded like the perfect prize for tonight's accomplishments.

"Angeal!" Zack's exclamation broke through the sudden sensual tension like a wrecking ball through a brick building as the man bounced through the room and immediately jumped onto Angeal's back in an exaggerated hug. Angeal, to his credit, didn't even stumble or miss a beat in his cooking, just swatted the puppy away with a spatula. Zack dropped to the floor and immediately began doing squats where he stood. "We did awesome! Everything went amazingly! Sephiroth and I worked fast and got everything. We even had time for some witty banter~ it was so great! Just like a movie!" Zack had quit doing squats but was bouncing on the balls of his feet, talking a mile a minute.

"Witty banter?" Cloud asked, a bemused expression directed at Sephiroth now sitting on the couch's arm above his head.

"That flaming Turk and the puppy traded a few… interesting taunts and phrases."

"Reno was there? Ha, that must have been fun," Cloud laughed and Zack's laughter echoed his from the kitchen.

"It was a blast!"

~x~x~x~x~x~

"Damn Puppy," Reno groused, flicking the ash off his all but forgotten cigarette. He smashed it into the ashtray for good measure. The flame-haired Turk glared into the visor mirror that hung in front of his face, rubbing some soot from his cheek. It was comical the way his face looked like he'd just been in one of those cartoon explosions. The only part of it that wasn't covered in slate-grey powder was the obvious outline around his eyes where his goggles had been. His hair looked like someone had taken a blow-dryer to his head and set it to maximum output. It was a hilarious image and he could see Rude sitting in the driver's seat, attempting to keep his stoic silence.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, partner," Reno scowled with a roll of his eyes. "Just 'cause _you _were far enough from the thing to get behind a pillar in time."

Rude chuckled. He had to admit it had been priceless the way the SOLDIER member they knew was referred to as 'Puppy' had pulled off their getaway. A would-be smoke bomb that was actually a weak time-bomb. Rude absently wondered who had made it. It had worked perfectly.

"We'll get 'em next time," he told his partner, an amused smile on his face as he drove, keeping his eyes to the road.

"Y' got that right," Reno huffed before a wide grin broke across his lips. They'd definitely get them next time. Smart-ass band of thieves. He was not going to get faked out like that again.

~x~x~_Flashback_~x~x~

_They had the place surrounded. Almost a hundred of Cid's best men stood around the Midgar Museum of Gaian History clustered at every exit. Turks, the best of the best of the police force, stood in strategic spots inside and around the museum. There was absolutely no way SOLDIER could get in or out of the place without getting caught. _

_They were as good as got._

_Suddenly the alarms blared behind them._

"_What the fuck?"_

_Reno listened to the channel as Cid Highwind, Chief of Police, cussed a few people out and swore to a couple gods before the gruff blonde man ordered some of his men around and ran for the building. He listened longer and locked eyes with his partner for half a second before the distinct baritone of Vincent Valentine, Head of the Turks, was heard through the wire. 'Go.'_

_He and Rude wasted no time, running in the exact same second towards the museum's main and most priceless exhibit._

_Treasures of the Gods._

_What met them there wasn't exactly what they'd expected, but it was close enough._

"_Heya, Bantam~ how's it hangin'?" the irritatingly upbeat voice of a certain Puppy met his ears and he scowled at the familiar spiky-haired male on the direct opposite end of the exhibit hall._

"_Heya, Porcupine," Reno drawled, not allowing his annoyance to show on his face as he offered an answering grin to the wonted thief - pun intended. He tapped his nightstick against his shoulder, stalking forward slowly but steadily. "Ain't this a surprise."_

"_I bet it was," Zack smirked. "Weren't expectin' us to find a way past all that security were you, Red?"_

"_Can't say that we were, yo," Reno was only a couple meters away now. "Wanna tell me how ya did it?"_

"_Back door entrance."_

_Reno had to pause as his mind suddenly wandered. "_Whose_ back door entrance, yo?"_

_That got a laugh from the puppy._

"_Wouldn't you like to know," he drawled, adding a sensual lull to his voice and winking at the red-haired Turk. Reno's expression had him pausing to laugh again. "Don't worry, Bantam. I'm not stingy. We can share the back door entrance."_

_Reno had walked further in by now, he was just feet away from the annoying bandit. He smirked. "You'd share with me, Puppy? I'm touched."_

"_Yeah?" Zack asked, a lazy grin now permanently on his lips. "I'm glad I could touch you, babe."_

_Reno was ashamed to say that it took him a while to get that one. He'd paused, a somewhat caught-off-guard expression on his face, and that was all it had taken. 'Puppy' had blown him a kiss and saluted, adding a little wink, and high-tailed it out of there behind his long silver-haired partner (who Reno hadn't even fuckin' noticed, Gaia dammit)._

_Reno immediately stepped forward, ready to follow them, when he heard a low ticking noise._

_In the five seconds it took him to look down, it was too late. The timed faux-smoke bomb activated, setting off a miniature explosion, right in Reno's face. More or less._

_It was just enough 'boom!' to give pause, startle, maybe stun, but not do any real damage._

_Enough to piss Reno the fuck off._

_Thank Gaia he'd had time to pull his goggles down over his eyes._

~x~x~_End Flasback_~x~x~

"Damn Puppy," He grumbled again, and chucked the remaining butt of his cancer stick out the window.

-x-x-x-

**AN: **Yeah, i know it's short... The original name for this chapter was - _You Know It's Going Well When There's Enough Time To Exchange Witty Banter _- but I scrapped it. I still loved it though so I thought I'd let you all in on the fact. It was either that or - _Backdoor Entrance - _in the end, I settled for the title I have now. Also, the main title Wanted Dead or Alive is a working title and I hate it. If anyone has any suggestions, please PM me or put it in a review. I'd greatly appreciate the ideas and input.

I'm not sure how many chapters this will turn into, or even if it will end up going past this chapter at all, but I'm sure my plot bunnies will supply me with more for this storyline. Whenever that may be. So don't hold your breath. But! Please! Tell me what you think, good or bad. Reviews are love~ and motivation! Thanks for reading!


	2. Turks and SOLDIERs

**Title: **This fic STILL does not have a title. I need ideas!  
**Author: **x-YaoiWolf-x  
**Rating: **M for anything that happens or may happen now or in the future  
**Warning: **Possible OOC-ness. Yaoi, etc. Same as first chapter basically. BUT! I've added a pairing and it's Yuri. So now you have been warned that there are not only guy on guy relationships but also girl on girl. As always, if you don't like these facts, don't read the story. Nuff Said. You have free will, after all.

**Disclaimer: **Refer to Chapter One. It's all the same.

**AN: **And surprisingly, I've written another chapter sooner than expected. In fact, I hadn't expected to write another chapter at all. You may thank my dynamite-fueled plot puppies. They seem to have taken a liking to this story. I don't really trust them to keep interest, though. They're horridly fickle little pups, always running off to find something new and never sticking to one thing long enough to get anything done. That's dogs for you… In any case, I give you a new chapter of this fic which is still lacking a title.

ALSO! A thank you to all who reviewed and gave me suggestions for the title. I haven't really decided just yet if I will use any of them or continue thinking, but I really did like all of them. If nothing else, a few might even become chapter titles. That being said, A VERY special thank you to TanakilNova for the title of this chapter. I liked it immensely as a play on Cops and Robbers, and it coincidently fit this chapter very nicely. Thanks SO much!

Oh! And thanks to all you amazing people who Faved and Alerted!

And now…

**A FanFic In Need of a Title**

-x-x-x-

**Chapter Two: Turks and SOLDIERs**

Angeal set five plates, each piled high with homemade fries, around the table and sat a large platter of cooked hamburger patties in the center. He surrounded the platter with smaller bowls of lettuce, sliced tomato, and the like, as well as the usual condiments. He contemplated calling the others from the living room but didn't. They would come when they wished.

It was only a millisecond before the first of them came hurtling into the dining room.

"Food!" Zack howled, nearly barreling into the far wall. Angeal was just glad he was used to the pup's antics or he might have choked on the potato wedge he'd just stuffed into his mouth. Of course, at the loud pronouncement from Zack, the others began to trickle in, appreciative hums echoing each other as they took their seats. Everyone grabbed what they liked from the center of the round table.

"You're so good to us, 'Geal," Genesis all but sighed through a bite of food. "You always cook such delicious dinners."

Angeal chuckled. "It's just hamburgers, Gen.

"Well, it's delicious!"

"At least one meal in the day should taste good. I don't know what you all would do without my cooking," Angeal sighed wistfully.

"Hey! My meals taste good," Genesis huffed.

Angeal shook his head in demurral. "I will apologize to Cloud, at least," he continued, turning to the blond with a smirkish smile. "Your breakfasts are always wonderful."

Cloud laughed and stuck his tongue out playfully at Genesis. Genesis only pouted and crossed his arms like a petulant child.

"Quit pouting and eat, Gen," Angeal smiled. "At least I allow you to cook. I wouldn't let Sephiroth, or Goddess forbid, _Zack _anywhere near the stove. Or even a toaster."

Genesis laughed at that. "That is true. At least _I _don't set fire to boiling water or drench burnt toast."

Sephiroth snorted.

"That was _one _time!" Zack cried indignantly from his place beside Cloud, across from Seph.

"Exactly," Genesis scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "How do you both burn water and soak toast at the same time?"

"With great talent," Zack retorted.

"And a whole lot of dumb luck," Cloud grinned.

"Et tu, Cloud!" Zack shot the young blond a shocked and betrayed look. Cloud only snorted and continued eating.

"So," Angeal cut in after a few silent seconds. "How did it go? Really."

Genesis' Cheshire grin spread across his lips. "Marvelously."

Angeal rolled his eyes at Genesis' repetition of the word he'd used earlier. "You said that already. I want details, Gen. You all left me out of this run." Angeal had been in charge of sneaking the others into the building through the 'backdoor entrance' without being detected and leaving the Escape Vehicle in a relatively safe spot about three or four blocks away. Once he'd done his role, he simply headed back to the apartment to wait for them. And worry. There hadn't been a real reason to worry. The museum was one place they'd hit a few times before (undetected) and would more than likely steal from again. It was always so easy to get in and out relatively unharmed. This time was only the second time they'd alerted the police of their intentions ahead of time, however, and Angeal was incurably worry prone.

Genesis huffed. "Well, fine then, if you don't want the embellished story…," he trailed off in a mutter. With a sigh, he began telling Angeal and the others all about his role in the night's venture. Zack and Cloud coming in with their own story to fill in parts along the way.

~x~x~ Earlier that Night ~x~x~

The night's objective had been a handful of priceless items on loan at Midgar's museum in the exhibit appropriately named _Treasures of the Gods. _Four or five beautiful pieces of Gaia's history each given a name corresponding in some way with a god or goddess. Usually kept at the Museum of Gaian Artifacts and Entities in Junon, they were being displayed in Midgar for three days only. Though the members of SOLDIER could have stolen these items from Junon itself at any time if they saw fit, they had decided on taking them from 'their own' museum on the night before the final day they would be on display. It was just more fun that way.

"Zack, stop snickering," Cloud swatted his porcupine-haired lover on the back of the head. "I'm pretty sure the Turks would be suspicious of any laughing shrubbery."

"Psh," Zack only scoffed. The Turks weren't anywhere around where they were hiding. The closest group of cops guarding the museum were a few meters away looking about as alive as a herd of zombies. They didn't even look as if they were paying attention. Zack bet that if he just walked right up to them with a grin and a wave they would still be standing there like a bunch of undead idiots. Zack snickered again. Cloud groaned.

"Shut up."

"Hey, Cloud," Zack nudged his partner with his elbow. "You think they'd react if I threw something at 'em?"

Cloud rolled his eyes.

"No."

No offense to the Midgar Police but dealing with them was just a hassle. It made them glad for the Turks. Without the Turks, the job wouldn't be half as fun.

A scratching static sound broke into the mundane banter and Cloud winced. Zack yelped beside him. They really needed to fix that.

"Alright, Genesis and Sephiroth are in position," a light giggle flitted through the headpieces they wore. "Wait another minute, exactly, then proceed."

Both men nodded, not bothering with a verbal response. The static ceased the next second. And the seconds on the clock inched by slowly.

"Now?"

"No."

"How much longer?" Zack whined, managing to keep quiet even as he did so.

"Twenty seconds," Cloud hissed. He loved him, really, but the idiot always got annoying when they had to wait. He couldn't sit still for more than five seconds. Thank the gods Zackary never had to wait for longer than the max of five minutes during any of their runs.

"How about-"

"Seven seconds," Cloud cut the man off before he could ask. Zack opened his mouth again, but Cloud held up a fist with three fingers up. One finger dropped. Then another.

Finally, the blond dropped his hand and Zack burst from the bushes, uncaring that Cloud had yet to follow. The lights in the area had switched off the second Cloud had dropped the last finger. The officers never even saw them.

Cloud shook his head and followed at a jog once they were inside. The temporary power outage left the door's electronic lock to fail, allowing for them to enter the building. The lights went back on the second the duo closed the door behind them.

Zack and Cloud stood straighter and took up positions on either side of the hall, beginning to walk swiftly but steadily in the same direction. To anyone watching the security feed they looked like any other police guard patrolling the halls, distinctive spiky hair hidden perfectly by the bulky standard-issue helmets of their uniforms.

It was another ten minutes, after a few routine rounds about the halls, that a familiar static met their ears once again.

"Alright, men! The cameras and security will only be out for seven minutes. Get to your places quickly. You have twenty-three seconds after that time before the alarms go off. Once the alarms start blaring, you're all on your own. Stick to the plan and don't get captured!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Zack barked cheerily.

"Roger," Cloud stated, more quietly and calmly. The two of them were already heading down the hallway and into the 'Ancient Animals' exhibit of the museum.

"Have fun~" A different voice called with a giggle and the static ceased.

Both of them immediately ripped off their annoying, uncomfortable standard-issue helmets gladly and took off. Cloud didn't get in anything more than a nod to Zack before the Puppy ran off in a random direction. Cloud did the same in the opposite direction. Cloud in search of a decent area of the museum as far from the actual objective as possible, and Zack on his way to meet up with Sephiroth at _Treasures of the Gods_.

~x~x~x~

"Easy as ever," Genesis praised to nobody in particular as they walked. Sephiroth ignored him.

Angeal had smuggled them in through the parking garage, posing as the man in charge of the gate (the real one was knocked out). There had been several officers patrolling, but they'd been taken care of entirely too easily for Genesis' liking. Now, they walked through the storage facilities above the museum's underground parking.

On occasion he or Seph would spy something that seemed valuable and stuff it in the bag Genesis held loosely in one hand. Mostly, Sephiroth would stop his auburn-haired lover from trying to steal everything and the kitchen sink. It was in this relative mundane silence that the two men silently entered the backroom of the museum (also used for storage) via the underground stairwell.

"Alright, I can see you two are in. Zack and Cloud have been patrolling long enough," the familiar voice suddenly spoke from the earpieces they wore. Genesis smirked at the slight sarcastic drawl of the last sentence. It hadn't been _that_ long. "We're cutting the cameras…," there was a pause, "…now. Okay! You know what to do."

"Of course," Genesis drawled.

"Don't get caught~" A cheery voice bid them, and they were off.

Sephiroth and Genesis both sprinted for the entrance from the back rooms to the main hallway, keeping the countdown of seven minutes and twenty-three seconds in their minds.

~x~x~x~

Three minutes and thirteen seconds later, Genesis and Sephiroth had gone their separate ways. Sephiroth had gone off to his main objective, the _Treasures of the Gods_. Genesis had just picked a random door and walked through it. He was only a decoy this round, after all. What he did didn't really matter as long as he didn't get caught in any traps or by any Turks. Meanwhile, he could browse about and take whatever caught his eye.

That last thought brought a grin to the redhead's face and he abruptly changed direction. Now that he thought of it, there was that set of ancient writings that were kept in the Ancient Banora part of the museum. They had been excavated from deep within the caves that sat on the outskirts of the town and Gen had had his eyes on them for ages.

"How unexpected."

Genesis' eyes jerked up from where he'd been staring at the floor as he'd walked and he turned quite suddenly to see who had spoken. His eyes narrowed for a second before he smirked at the man he had unknowingly walked right past as his mind wandered.

"Why, if it isn't Tseng," Genesis drawled with a mocking tilt of his head. "A pleasure, as always, to see you here."

"No," the dark-haired Turk intoned, "the pleasure is mine."

Genesis chuckled when there was no name uttered at the end of that greeting. It gave him great pleasure to know that the Turks wouldn't address him by name. Angeal was the only one of them that had never left his name on a calling card before. Even Sephiroth had at some point. He didn't see why they wouldn't say his name. Perhaps Tseng simply didn't remember his. Perhaps he should remind him. But which one to use…

"You may use my name, Tseng. I don't mind."

There was no reply. Genesis huffed.

"Come, Tseng, it can't be so bad to be courteous."

Silence.

"Fine," Genesis rolled his eyes. "I was only trying to be polite and speak to you instead of ignoring you, but if you won't show the same decency then I'll be on my way. Good night, Tseng."

Only a second passed before the man was suddenly standing directly in front of Genesis, blocking his path, gun aimed at his chest. Genesis only sighed and looked Tseng in the eye. Suddenly, he seemed to disappear, appearing right behind Tseng.

The Turk moved swiftly then, twisting around and using the momentum of it as well as the added weight of the gun in his hand to aim a heavy blow to Genesis jaw. He swung through empty space as the auburn-haired man dropped to the ground, legs already moving to sweep Tseng's out from under him. Tseng jumped, easily avoiding the attempt, only to be hit dead center with a heavy kick straight to his chest.

Even as Tseng flew across the hall, Genesis rushed toward him. The thief jumped with a twist, turning several times in the air before landing a kick with his left heel to Tseng's head. The Turk only just managed to somewhat block the blow using both arms, but the force of it sent him straight into the wall.

Genesis landed gracefully and stood straight, patting dust from his jacket and running a hand over his hair to settle it. He looked in the direction of Tseng's battered form, giving an appreciative grin to the sizable crater in the wall. If the Turk wasn't unconscious, which by all rights he should be, then at the least he would _not _be standing up anytime soon. Genesis gave one nod in that direction and spun on his heel.

There were now only about six seconds before-

An alarm wailed from the speakers just ahead and above him and Genesis winced at the loud, grating sound.. Dammit. That meant the cameras had been on for at least the end of that battle. With his luck, he'd get more Turkeys on his case before he ever reached his precious Ancient Tomes.

~x~x~x~

Cloud marveled at the various items on display in the many rooms he wandered about. This was only his third time in the museum with enough time to go looking around and the other two times had only been long enough to glance as he ran past. This time he was a decoy, a distraction, and as long as he didn't get captured he was allowed to look around. Cloud smiled when he walked into the next part of the museum and was met with a familiar scene.

All along the walls of the round display area was the image of a small snow-covered town at the base of the mountains. Nibelheim. Cloud had entered the Ancient Nibel section of the museum. It was a bittersweet moment. Nostalgia for the scene and the mountains and a lost childhood was mixed with sadness and anger for a lost mother and a bitter past. But he wasn't there anymore, and he would never be there again. He was more than happy with the life he had now.

Still, the sights before him reminded him of his mother.

Cloud walked forward and reached up, tugging an obviously very old, large, and heavy hand-sewn quilt from the wall. It fell with a thud and he gathered it, folding it. It joined a handful of other pilfered things from various exhibits in a sack he carried over one shoulder.

He went about the room collecting anything small enough to fit in the bag before moving on to the next area.

It was in the next room, Ancient Cosmo, that he was met quite suddenly with something large and metal flying at him from the left. Instinctively, he ducked before looking about for whoever had thrown whatever it was. Unusually calm blue eyes met two sets of feminine faces and he pouted. Why did he always get stuck with the chicks? He huffed, not allowing himself to pout as he lowered his back to the floor and slid it out of the immediate area and closer to the doors.

This room, unlike the others leading to it, was, fortunately bigger, but also a dead end. Where the other rooms led into more rooms, this one only had one exit and it was behind him. Maybe he should try to leave? No. He was the distraction. He'd have to occupy these two or incapacitate them. Those were the ups and downs of being the decoy, he supposed.

"Thinkin' kind of hard there, aren't you, Strife?" One of the two women spoke.

Cloud frowned and looked towards where they still stood at equal distances from where he was, both seemingly relaxed and casual. He lowered himself into a more battle ready stance.

"Don't tease him, Laney," the other one giggled. "His expressions are too cute."

Cloud huffed.

"I'm so sorry, Cissnei," Cloud droned sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, "Elena. I was just trying to decide if I should take you seriously or go easy on you since your girls."

The blond was pleased to see that he'd definitely riled them up with that. Elena's mouth turned downwards in a fierce scowl, eyes narrowed into a glare, and Cissnei's laughing eyes turned just that much less friendly.

"Well," Cissnei questioned sharply. "What did you decide then?"

"You'll just have to find out. Let's," Cloud smirked, "get this over with."

He rushed forward.

Immediately, he was attacked from both sides. Again that large metal something came flying at him. At the same time several much smaller metal somethings flew at him from the opposite direction. It was a split second reflex motion that saved him, falling to his knees and sliding with the momentum of his initial sprint. He leaned pack, long blond spikes nearly meeting their fate at the ends of the sharp projectiles. Thankfully, Cloud had always been good at limbo.

Not letting the opportunity pass, he swiftly jumped to his feet and turned, bug worm out and ready in hand. Absently, he noted that the various metal somthings had been several throwing knives and a rather large shuriken. Cloud had never faced Cissnei before now. Zack probably should have mentioned her weapon. It wouldn't do him much good to have his brain splattered by big pointy throwing stars.

Movement caught the corner of his eye and Cloud whirled, bringing his chain up in front of himself to block the bullets heading straight for him. Cloud scowled. Elena, however, he'd faced plenty. Elena threw him a cheeky smile and a wink just before Cloud felt it. The slightest shift in the air behind him. He jerked to one side and dropped down to a crouch. The shuriken whizzed by. He jumped back up and on instinct, suddenly threw his head to the side.

A sting ripped across his cheek and he hissed. Elena's knife nicking him where he didn't move fast enough. The first knife was followed by several more and he dodged each one by the slightest margin. Elena wouldn't allow him more than an inch in either direction, alternating which side she threw at, throwing two knives simultaneously at times.

It was only the sudden flash of red that warned Cloud with enough time for him to jump as the shuriken swept across the floor where he'd crouched. Numerous sudden stings of pain flashed up both arms and legs. Cloud winced. He'd forgotten for just that one second about Elena. He glared as his eyes fell on both women once more standing casually relaxed in front of him.

Then, he smirked and was gone.

Elena gasped as, suddenly and unexpectedly, all she could see were a pair of laughing blue eyes. It was the only thing she _would_ see, as in the next instant Cloud had hit various pressure points on both her arms and legs. She crumpled to the ground, temporarily paralyzed but still conscious. Cloud left her there to stare at the ground and turned to a frowning Cissnei.

"I guess now you know the answer to that question," Cloud smiled. Cissnei smiled back.

"I guess I do."

The shuriken went flying once more. This time, it glowed. Cloud did not pout. It was a frown, a frown. He couldn't tell what type of spell it was so using his bugworm was out of the picture for now. If Cissnei were smart, which she undoubtedly was, she would use either a poison, stop, or slow-based magic. Cloud mentally sighed.

He crouched and launched forward. Cissnei was quick, she dodged to one side and nimbly caught her returning shuriken before throwing it again not a split second later. Cloud ducked and weaved about the room almost in a mirror of Cissnei's own movements as they both avoided each others projectile weapons.

A few times, Cloud managed to land a hit to the female Turk's side, a shoulder, or arm. It had to hurt, there was no way it didn't. The weight on the end of the chain weighed a decent amount and with as much power and momentum as Cloud put behind his throws, there was no chance that the petite woman didn't have at the very least some decent bruises and maybe a cracked bone or two.

Still, for every blow taken, Cissnei gave as good as she got. Cloud was covered in various nicks and cuts along his arms and cheeks. At one point, she'd even gotten in a decent blow to his stomach. He was just glad that the spell she kept casting wasn't poison-based. It was only a Slow. Hopefully, she wouldn't change it up.

Cloud let his chain fly at the exact moment Cissnei gave a powerful throw of her own weapon in midair. He knew there would be no time to pull the chain back and block it. At least he knew that his own attack would hit her nearly square to her chest, she had to land somewhere after all. Hopefully that would be enough. He watched as the chain and counterweight hit it's mark and Cissnei cried out. He nearly winced himself.

Her hand flew to her side, there was no doubt she had broken ribs now. Cloud himself had nearly forgotten the shuriken heading at him and he cursed as he moved to dodge. From the corner of his eye he saw Cissnei smirk. Too late, he realized that there wasn't only one but two shuriken and while one had already passed the other was still coming. If that were the only new development, it would have been fine. It wasn't.

Cloud moved to dodge the second attack but was a bit slower than he'd like to be thanks to the build up of Slow spells he'd been hit with. The edge of the second shuriken sliced across his upper arm. He hissed and looked down. Or tried to. His head wouldn't move. He couldn't move and he cursed himself for jinxing it when he figured out why. Cissnei had cast a Stop this time.

Twin shuriken pierced flesh one after the other and Cloud hissed harshly. One embedded itself in his back, the other in his upper left arm. Dammit! He seathed, glaring in the only direction he could for the time being. Cissnei smiled, walking towards him. Cloud felt only marginally better when he saw that she was limping slightly and breathing raggedly, still clutching one side with the opposite arm.

"Give up, Strife? It looks like I won. That's what you get when you underestimate us women."

Cloud scoffed and smirked, not letting on how irked he really was.

"Maybe you didn't guess the right answer after all," he gave a put upon sigh. Genesis would be proud of the dramatic sound of it. "I thought you knew I was only going easy on you."

He took pleasure in the disbelieving look on the female Turk's face, he almost laughed when she rolled her eyes. Eight more seconds…

"I'm not so sure about that, Sapphire." Six…

"Why not? I'm not a liar, Cissnei." Three…

"You're a theif." Two…

"But never a liar."

One.

Cissnei hadn't even blinked but it seemed like she had. The second the last word had fallen from his lips, Cloud was no longer standing before her. She cursed as a flash of red met her eyes and reflex alone helped her to catch the two weapons that came at her. Her shuriken. She was lost in that one second of shock at seeing her own weapons, there was no time to dodge when she caught the flash of more projectiles headed her way. All at once, eight or nine knives pinned her to the wall by her sleeves and pants, thrown with enough force to be embedded almost completely into the wall.

Cloud suddenly stood before her with a sweet smile on his angel's face. "I'm not a liar," he simply stated. Without another word, the blond thief leaned forward and grabbed up his bag, walking out the way he'd come in.

~x~x~x~

Genesis was running now, realizing he was on the completely opposite side of the museum from where he wanted to be. With the alarms blaring and the cameras on there was no way that Cid and his horde didn't know he was there or where he was going, but he didn't care. That was his job, after all. Distract them. That didn't mean that he wouldn't try his damnedest to get what he wanted. He wanted those texts, dammit!

It was only their quick reflexes that stopped Genesis from nearly bowling Cloud over. Cloud stopped short while Genesis jerked to one side. It took a second for both of them to realize the other was there. Genesis huffed a laugh and smirked. Well, at least he didn't' have to go looking for Cloud anymore. Then he frowned.

"Gaia, love, _what_ happened to you?"

Cloud rolled his eyes at his auburn-haired lover but gave a small smile.

"Oh, you know, decided to go easy on a couple Turks," he shrugged. "No big deal. I'm fine."

Genesis shook his head. "You and your fear of using all your strength against Turks. They're tough, they can take it. They don't die that easily. They're like cats. Or cockroaches."

Cloud laughed.

"Here," Genesis reached into a pocket of his jacket and pulled out a green orb. Warmth washed over Cloud a second later. "All better," Gen smiled and pulled Cloud to him for a quick hug. Cloud hugged back before pulling away again.

"Well, I guess now we're together we can act as decoys together, too!" Cloud chirped happily. Genesis nodded.

"Then let's go this way," Genesis stated and marched in the direction Cloud had just come from. Cloud followed anyway, not really caring where they went.

They ended up in the Ancient Banora display room, which, as it turned out, Cloud had not been through yet. In fact, there were a few rooms before and beyond this one that Cloud had yet to see.

"What are you looking for?" Cloud asked his older lover when he noticed him looking around with a purpose.

"Just some books I've always wanted. A few scrolls, too," Gen answered absently, more focused on his search.

"You mean these?"

Genesis whirled and looked in the direction Cloud was pointing. A wide, pleased smile spread across his face.

"Yes." He walked forward and quite suddenly captured Cloud's face in one hand, leaning down to press a not-quite quick nor chaste kiss to the adorable blond's lips. "Exactly those."

Cloud blushed a bright red as he watched Genesis happily pull the various writings from their display case and place them into his own bag.

"Now, let's grab some other random things so that the others don't start whining that we didn't do our jobs."

Cloud chuckled and followed Genesis as they wandered the various rooms ahead.

~x~x~x~

Reno coughed and spluttered as he angrily stomped through the halls of Midgar's museum. _Damn Puppy. Damn SOLDIER. Damn lousy fake time-bomb._

Beside him, Rude was walking calmly, stoic as ever except for the barely perceptible upward tilt of his lips that signified that he was about this close to laughing his head off. To others it might not have been much of anything. To Reno, oh, it was more than enough. He could see it in the man's non-visible eyes. Rude was smirking at the back of Reno's head.

The redhead was this close to turning around and punching his partner (or attempting to punch, as the case may be) . Reno scowled. "Enough, already, yo! Quit laughin'!" Reno spun to glare at the man.

If anything, it only made him not-laugh harder.

Reno huffed. _Fine then, let him laugh. When it's his turn, I'm going to laugh for days. Long. And loud. With youthful abandon! _A spot of black in the off-white on beige color scheme of the walls and flooring caught his eye at that moment and Reno zeroed in on it.

"Oh snap! Boss!" Reno ran forward, a no longer not-laughing Rude on his heels. "Boss!" Reno knelt beside the dark-haired man. "Tseng, you okay, man?"

It took a second but Tseng looked up at them a moment later, expressionless as usual, and made to stand up. Rude wordlessly offered his hand and helped pull him to his feet. Meanwhile, Reno had spotted the rather noticeable wall crater behind his boss. He gave a long, low whistle.

"Damn, Tseng," he drawled, not moving his gaze from the wall. "What happened here?"

"Loveless," he sighed, using the alias he disliked least in regards to the auburn-haired member of SOLDIER.

"Ah, good ol' Ruby," Reno chuckled. "Let me guess, he didn't really feel like messin' 'round and just knocked you out instead." It was a well known observance that that particular thief had a very limited amount of patience.

"One can only assume," Tseng stated, not sure whether that had been the case or not but not caring to elaborate the events of earlier. He would have to do it once later in any case when he reported the incident to Valentine. Tseng changed the subject. "When did the alarms go off?"

"Oh, around…" Reno thought about it. Rude answered.

"Seventeen minutes and counting, sir."

Tseng only nodded. He'd been out for a while then, it seemed.

"What's the status of the artifacts that were indicated as the targets?"

Tseng didn't miss the small flinch from Reno, nor the slight not-quite-smirk from Rude. He had taken in the younger Turk's appearance earlier but chosen not to comment. Now he was slightly curious.

Reno stuffed his hands further into his pockets. "Ah, you see, boss, what happened was…"

"Spit it out, Reno," Tseng droned.

"Yes, sir. The SOLDIER known as Puppy and the SOLDIER known as Ghost were found at the _Treasures of the Gods _exhibit, already snatchin' things up. The Puppy and I engaged in some harmless banter and just when I was about to go at him, he sets off some weird smoke-bomb time-bomb thing. Right in my face! And runs off."

By the end of the short report, Reno was almost as irritated as he had been earlier. Tseng was staring at him with that 'I'm not impressed' crossed with an 'I'm not surprised' look in his eyes. Reno scowled.

"I see," Tseng simply said and reached up to switch on his earpiece. It wasn't there. Neither was Reno's when he asked. Rude handed his over. Tseng clicked it on. "Turks, report."

The first voice to answer was not a Turk. "Me 'n' Vince ain't found nothin'. I think we're lookin' in all the wrong places. We're headin' to the other side o' the buildin' to check it out up there.'

Tseng hadn't expected his bosses to report in at all, but he simply nodded and waited for the next report.

"Cissnei and I ran into the SOLDIER known as Strife. It seems he had been going easy on us. He used pressure points to put me out of commission then proceeded to battle Cissnei. In the end, he pinned Ciss to the wall using my knives and moved on. Cissnei's been in worse shape but it's better if she doesn't move much. I'm able to move now if you need me to go anywhere."

"No need, Elena," Tseng answered. "Stay in that area along with Cissnei and report in if you see any of SOLDIER."

"Roger."

"Tseng," another voice, Vincent's, came then. "Report."

He did and then proceeded to give a report of Reno's earlier encounter as well.

"See, I told ya they were on the other side of the place!" Cid's voice came over the wireless.

"Very well, take Reno and Rude and head back to the Treasures exhibit. Attempt to track the two that escaped there and follow as far as you can."

Tseng nodded and pulled off the headpiece, handing it back over to Rude who quickly slipped it back on. They would head back and see what they could find. What happened if they caught up to The General and Puppy was unclear, but it was implied. Any action beyond what Valentine ordered was up to Tseng to decide.

~x~x~x~

Cid and Vincent headed at a steady run through the halls of Midgar's Museum. The last place any member of SOLDIER had been spotted had been around the Ancient Gaia section of the museum. It was two chains of various rotunda all leading into each other until both ended with larger more oval-shaped rooms. No matter which way they chose, a person would have to walk back through the way they came to get out. Both chains began at a decent-sized lobby area dotted with benches and the occasional potted plants. It was in this lobby that Cid and Vincent found themselves waiting.

They didn't have to wait long. Little more than nine minutes from the time they set foot in the lobby, both Genesis and Cloud emerged from the right side of the room. The two paused upon seeing the Head of the Turks and the Chief of Police waiting for them. Genesis gave a put upon sigh while Cloud only took the bag from Genesis' hand and placed it near the potted plant to the left of them along with his own bag.

"Well, if it ain't the SOLDIER brats," Cid drawled. Genesis scoffed.

"Just get on with it, old man," the redhead rolled his eyes, head lolling to one side mockingly. "We honestly have other things we'd rather be doing than hanging about here all night."

"So eager to be arrested," Cid chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief.

"On the contrary, only impatient to be rid of you. After all," Genesis grinned. "All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow."

Those words seemed to be the trigger. Genesis rushed forward at the same instant that Cid pulled a spear seemingly from thin air and ran full tilt at the redhead. It was in the next second it became apparent that their partners had had almost the same thought in mind.

Cloud quickly drew his bugworm and launched it towards Cid, successfully wrapping the chain around the staff of his spear. He pulled forcefully, managing to bring the much heavier blond towards him and into closer quarters.

At the same time, Vincent Valentine had flown across the distance between him and the Crimson SOLDIER, effectively engaging him in a battle of strength and speed that covered the expanse of the large rest area.

Cloud expertly dodged the fist coming towards his face, a casual smile on pink lips as he enjoyed the cat-and-mouse style of fighting he and the other blond had going. While Cid threw punches at Cloud with one arm, the other was attempting to maneuver his Venus Gospel from the tight hold of the bugworm's chain. It wasn't going to budge, though, unless Cloud allowed it to, and that just wasn't going to happen anytime soon. So, the cat-and-mouse game continued.

Genesis flipped midair after having been sent flying by a particularly well played barrage of punches and kicks. Somehow or other the fight had taken both Gen and Vincent into the air, both jumping about the room using the walls to launch themselves. He landed on both feet, low to the ground, one hand on the floor to keep balanced. There was no time to think as he used the position he was in to push himself into a dead sprint forward.

Vincent stood at the other end of the room, calmly watching the blur that was Crimson coming at him. The color yellow interrupted the dark red and black blur as Cid and Cloud, still connected by the chain of the bugworm, playing that same game of tag, came into the path of chaos.

Genesis noticed it a second too late, but Cloud had spotted him not a second too soon. Quickly releasing Cid's spear from his chain, Cloud swiftly jumped when Cid's sudden additional forward momentum caused the man to stumble straight for him. Genesis collided with the Police Chief instead. Cloud winced as he watched the two of them roll across the floor before crashing into the solid stone bench in their path with all their combined and built up momentum.

"Uh," Cloud met slightly exasperated red eyes, "I think it's time we get going now…" He looked over at his battered lover who had managed to untangle from Cid and stand up. Genesis only rolled his eyes and nodded. Cloud gave Vincent a regretful smile. "We'll be going then."

The room abruptly filled with smoke.

"Shit!" Cid's voice echoed in the clouded lobby. "Ya ain't gettin' away that easily, ya damn brats!"

"Wanna bet?" Cloud goaded, seemingly right beside the older blond judging by where his voice sounded. Cid nearly jumped.

"Ya bet I wanna bet! Damn kid," Cid whirled around. "Quit hidin' like some sissy female and fight like a man!"

"I'm right here, sir," Cloud chirped from directly behind the man and this time he did jump.

"Gaia dammit, ya shit! Don't do that!" Cid spun on his heel and swung his Venus Gospel.

"Missed me!"

"Shuddup! Quit bein' an ass and fight fair!"

"No thanks."

"Ya sure you wanna keep this up?" Cid crossed his arms, staring where he could now see the vague shadow of the little blond. Cloud shrugged and opened his mouth to give an answer. He yelped instead as he was suddenly lifted by the collar of his pilfered police uniform. He heard Cid chuckle.

"Vince caught ya, didn' he?"

Cloud growled, but allowed himself to be dragged forward. Just long enough to get closer to the door and within kicking distance of Cid Highwind, then he'd break free. Hopefully.

"So, looks like the red one got away," Cid drawled as the smoke began to clear. He looked at Cloud. "Don't look at me like that, it's your own fault ya got caught. Quit glaring'."

Cloud rolled his eyes. Just a little more… Cloud kicked out with both legs as soon as he got close enough. Cid jumped back, as expected, but Vincent did not let go. Cloud squirmed in the man's iron grip to no effect. Finally, Cloud did the only thing he could think of. He reached back quickly enough to catch the long-haired Turk off guard and pulled the man's head forward into a rough kiss. It was lopsided and not quite on target, but it served it's purpose.

Vincent was just shocked enough to loosen his grip and Cloud took the opportunity and ran with it. He sprung forward and dashed past an equally stunned Cid. With luck, he'd get a decent head start before they shook it off and chased after him.

~x~x~x~

Genesis ran towards the door he knew was around here somewhere. The same door Cloud and Zack had entered from earlier. That was the closest and easiest exit available at the moment and it was about time they got the heck out of here anyway. Zack and Sephiroth were most likely halfway to the truck by now, if they weren't already there.

Rounding the corner, Genesis cursed his Gaia damned luck. While the door he'd been searching for was just within sight, so were those good for nothing Turks. Tseng, Reno, and Rude. Why couldn't the man have stayed unconscious much longer? He did not have time for this, he wanted to go home. Have dinner. Have dessert.

He would have to do this fast.

All they saw was a black and red blur before Reno was flat on his back halfway across the hall. Rude had managed to jump out of the way of his suddenly airborne partner, but wasn't quick enough to do the same for the kick flying towards his head. He hit the wall beside him with a harsh thud and fell to the floor.

Tseng glared at the figure he saw once the initial confusion passed. "Loveless!"

"Oh, so you do know my name. I'm glad," Genesis gave a particularly cruel smirk. He launched forward. "I'm in no mood for a long, drawn out spectacle, however."

Once again, the wutaian Turk went crashing to the wall.

"Goodnight, Tseng."

~x~x~x~

"So I led them to one of the balconies on the second floor and jumped off," Cloud finished his part of the story. "It's a really good thing you left Fenrir there for me or I might have broken a bone or two in my legs."

"No you wouldn't have. You could've landed just fine," Genesis leaned over and used his tongue to swipe a stray bit of strawberry ice cream from the corner of Cloud's mouth. Dinner had ended at some point during the retelling of the night's events and they had all gathered in the living room with ice cream and each other to celebrate their victory.

"Yeah, Cloudy," Zack grinned up at the younger teen from his seat on the floor in front of the couch. "We jump from really high places all the time. It just takes practice."

"No, pup. Cloud's right to be cautious. He's not as enhanced as the rest of us," Angeal smiled down at the teen and ruffled his hair.

"I have a concern," Sephiroth suddenly spoke from where he sat behind Genesis. The redhead was sitting quite comfortably sideways on his lap, his legs stretched across Cloud's thighs. One of Seph's arms was around Cloud's shoulders as the blond leaned into the silver-haired man's chest. Everyone turned to look at him as he spoke. "I feel as if we forgot something important."

A brief silence filled the apartment.

"I don't think-"

Zack was cut off by the sound of music.

_~ My milkshake brings all the babes to the yard, and they're like~_

They froze.

"Hurry and answer it, puppy!" Genesis hissed, leaning forward to smack the back of Zack's head. The raven-haired teen jumped up and scrambled for the PHS that acted as their home phone. It was kept on a side table in the hall.

_~Damn right! It's better than yours! I can teach you, but I'd have to charge~_

"Hello!" Zack nearly shouted into the PHS in panic.

"Where the hell are you guys?! You were supposed to be here ages ago! Don't tell me that the one night I don't make Angeal drive the getaway car you all just forget the procedures! I had better see all five of your asses down here in ten minutes or I'm going to march myself up to that apartment of yours and beat you all within an inch of your lives! Do you hear me?! And don't think I don't remember that 'Because your girls' comment you made earlier, Cloud Strife! You will beg your forgiveness when you get here!"

The line clicked, and there was silence.

"Fuck," Cloud groaned.

The others whole-heartedly agreed with that sentiment.

**-x-x-x-**

**AN: **There it is. You can tell that that one battle scene towards the end was entirely hopeless. By then, it was four in the morning and I had no clue what I was going to write as far as fight scenes go. I'm never any good at them and the Cid-Cloud, Gen-Vincent battle is not an easy thing to imagine for me as it is. I was just lazy for the Gen-Turk fight at the end. In any case, I still hope you all liked it~! My first real update, ever. Now, if only this had a proper title.

**Just some quick points here.** 1) If it feels like I'm biased, it's because I am. I love Tseng. Very Very Very Much. I don't hate him. In fact, I don't hate any of the Turks. I just love the SOLDIERs more. This is my story! I can do what I want!

2)The reason none of them have swords is obviously because it wouldn't be effective to disguise/infiltrate with such noticeable and distinctive weapons on them. Hence, Gen fights with fists. Zack's got his random bombs and what not. Cloud's got his bugworm. Seph's got his much smaller, lighter, hidden short sword.

3) Cloud's weapon, the bugworm, is a retractable chain. I don't think it's usually retractable, but Cloud's is because of a contraption worn on his back attached to his belt. At the end of the chain is either a counter-weight, very heavy, really painful. Or an extendable blade, sharp and pointy, very dangerous, very painful (also not usually extendable). Cloud's is both counterweight and blade in one.

4) The various nicknames. For now, I've only revealed a few. Cloud's Fenrir, Strife, and Sapphire. Gen's Loveless, Ruby, and Crimson. Zack's Puppy. Sephiroth's Ghost and General. But there are others. I may or may not eventually use them all, but just so you're not confused. They all have about five different ones. You can probably guess a few of the other ones. Maybe…

5) Lastly. It seems like I infer that females are the lesser gender here and I absolutely don't think so… It just seems to be the way this wrote itself. I am female, though, so if that helps anything, it's out there.

6) Yes, that song was absolutely deliberate~ yes, the 'babes' not 'boys' was also deliberate.

**Any questions** or concerns I haven't addressed here are likely to not be answered, but ask away! It depends on which questions are asked. Please Review! Leave suggestions for the title! Tell me you loved it, or hated it. Just Review~ Also, I do not have a beta, but if anyone spots anything, please please tell me about it! I hate when I miss things like that. Anyway, Much Love!


	3. Yakity Sax

**Title: **From SOLDIER with Love - It's a working Title, ideas are still welcome  
**Author: **x-YaoiWolf-x  
**Rating: **M for anything that happens or may happen now or in the future  
**Warning: **Possible OOC-ness. Improper Language. Yaoi, etc. Same as first chapter basically. I've added a pairing and it's Yuri. So now you have been warned! Guy on Guy AND Girl on Girl relationships from here onwards! ASGZC, some CidxVincent, intermingling of some Turks, etc. As always, if you don't like these facts, don't read the story. Nuff Said. You have free will and the ability to click the back button at any time.  
**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One. It's all the same.

**AN: **Well, it seems the plot puppies really like this story. I'm not sure if it's a good thing… I think they might be sick. Maybe I'm not feeding them enough dynamite. Oh well… The result is that you all get yet another update to this fic! AND I've managed to think of a title that doesn't automatically make my brain wretch at the thought of it. If anyone can guess where the title came from… uh, I'll think of something to reward you with. It's not as if it's a hard guess. I think. Anyway, this would have been updated a long time ago, but I took a trip here and there without internet, so, yeah.

And now! A huge **THANKS** to **TanakilNova**, again, for the amazing review she left me! I had the hugest grin on my face while reading it. Absolutely made my day! Thank you so much! And yes, you guessed one person right, but there are two of them in that chapter.

And another thank you to all those who reviewed, faved, and/or alerted my story! You all are the reason this story has managed to become more than a oneshot.

**Just a note: **The opening Reno scene begins at the end of the Reno scene from Chapter One. Now, you all may proceed…

**From SOLDIER with Love**

**-x-x-x-**

**Chapter Three: Yakity Sax**

"Is that everything?" Angeal asked, shutting the door as he jumped up into the driver's seat of his precious truck. Solid black F350 Heavy Duty four door with four wheel drive, windows tinted the darkest shade possible; the large monster of a truck was Angeal's second most prized possession (the Buster Sword being first). The man absolutely loved his truck.

Everyone else had already piled in and at Sephiroth's nod of affirmation, Angeal pulled out of the parking garage that made up the first floor of the apartments building.

~x~x~x~

Reno pulled another cigarette from the pack in his breast pocket after tossing the butt of the last one through the window. Beside him, Rude had stopped his constant not-laughing but still had on that slight not-quite-smirk. Reno glowered at nothing in particular through the windshield of their Honda Civic patrol car that was more a very dark grey than black.

After the disaster that was the SOLDIER heist earlier that night, Vincent had sent them all on patrol around the city. Kunsel, an up and coming officer who the Turks had considered for their own, had managed to catch a glimpse of what he was sure was the getaway car that the thieves had used to, well, get away. Now, here they were looking up and down town for an enormous black truck and a huge ass motorcycle.

Reno scoffed. You would think it would be a lot easier to spot such larger-than-average vehicles roaming about, but No. Of course, it wasn't. Insert heavy sarcasm here. Where the hell did SOLDIER keep a truck that large anyway. Reno turned to look at his partner, ready to let loose a long string of complaints to that effect, and caught sight of something wonderful. A whistle left him, instead.

"Take a look at that baby," Reno drawled appreciatively as he watched the beautiful black truck go by. At Rude's raised eyebrow, Reno tilted his chin forward to indicate the direction his partner should be looking. "I think I found what we been lookin' for, yo."

Rude wasted no time in radioing in while Reno parked along the curb nearby and hopped out.

~x~x~x~

"Genesis," Angeal sighed as they drove away from the apartment complex. The redhead only huffed in the seat beside him, arms crossed in a belligerent manner.

"'Geal," Genesis stated back, deceptively calm. Angeal shook his head. He wouldn't get anywhere with this. Genesis could be as stubborn as… well, Genesis was more stubborn than any one person or thing. Even if it _was _his fault that procedure had been completely ignored, the auburn-haired man would never admit to it, or apologize. At least, not verbally.

"Come on, Angeal, it's not just his fault," Zack drawled in a matter-of-fact tone. "Sephiroth didn't say anything either."

Angeal had to chuckle at that statement and the consequent half-glare it garnered from Sephiroth. But it was true, the others hadn't bothered to correct Genesis. It was as much their faults as it was his. He sighed again.

Just then, Cloud let out a subconscious little noise, drawing Sephiroth's gaze and the other's attentions. Whatever Sephiroth spotted then had the man frowning and turning to Angeal.

"Turks," the jade-eyed man simply stated. Angeal looked into the rear view mirror and frowned as well. That distinct bright red hair could only be Reno of the Turks. And where there was Reno, there was usually Rude. The flame-haired Turk was very obviously looking in their direction. It was no big leap to assume they had been spotted and their location was being reported to the Turks. Genesis let out a curse beside him.

It wasn't a surprise. Not really. It just wasn't something anybody wanted. There was no way they were going to get to their destination within the allotted ten minutes now. Angeal looked over his shoulder for a second before he spoke, locking eyes with Zack in the back seat through the rear view mirror.

"It's your turn to call, Pup."

Zack whined. It was _always _his turn to call. With a resigned sigh, he pulled his PHS from his pocket and hit speed dial 6.

~x~x~x~

"Yeah," Reno spoke into the radio. "Looks like they're headin' towards the central highway, yo. I can't see 'em from here no more."

"_Alright. Reno, Rude. You two are to head into the apartments you saw the vehicle come out of and discover where SOLDIER supposedly lives. If we can find where they live, the work is half done. Keep alert, we do not know who was in that truck, nor if all of them left. Some may still be inside."_

"Roger, Boss," Reno replied with a pleased grin. He turned to Rude, who gave a nod in return, and headed off towards the building in question with a bounce in his step. Rude followed calmly behind him.

The woman at the main desk looked up as two men walked into the front office. A pleasant smile spread across her lips as she took in their suits. They weren't bad on the eyes either. Maybe they were looking for a place. She would give them one, the more good looking men around here the better.

"Hey," Reno leaned with one arm on the desk in front of the woman. He grinned. "You the one in charge here?"

"Yes, I am," she gave a knowing half-smile. "How may I help you, Mr. …?"

"Just Reno," Reno drawled.

"Reno," she nodded. "What can I do for you?" she asked again. Reno pulled out his PHS and flipped through it before turning it to show her the screen.

"Have you seen this man?"

She stared. On the screen before her was a somewhat blurry but still recognizable picture of a particular spiky-haired brunette. Yes, she had seen that man, but why did it matter. She blinked up at the redhead before her and shook her head.

"No?" Reno asked, not believing her for a second. He pulled his PHS back to him and clicked around. "How about this one?"

Another spiky-haired young man, this one blond. "No," she narrowed her eyes up at the one leaning over her desk.

"Are you sure?" Reno purred. He flipped about on his PHS again. "Then what about these two, yo?"

Staring at the snapshot of a silver-haired man standing beside another man with auburn hair, the woman opened her mouth to ask why they wanted to know, but was cut off quite suddenly by a nasally voice behind her.

"Oh those are the ones that live up on the top floor," the second woman spoke. It was entirely obvious by her haughty, derisive tone that she could care less for the men in the photo. "Along with those obnoxious wild-haired young boys. Ruffians, the lot of them."

Reno smirked.

"Thank you," He chirped, wide smirk in place. "That's all we needed to know. Have a nice day, ladies!"

Jesse glared at their backs as they walked off in the direction of the elevators. She would never turn her glare on the woman behind her, though she wished she could. Elfe would fire her if Scarlet ever complained about her, even though the two women practically despised each other. Scarlet had a bit too much money to risk aggravating.

Ah, Jesse gave a mental sigh. So much for keeping good looking guys around. Whatever trouble those five had gotten themselves into, it most likely meant they wouldn't be staying _here_ anymore.

~x~x~x~

"This is why we follow procedure in the first place, people!" The woman on the other end of the line ranted at them. Zack had put the PHS on speaker ages ago. "The rules are there to be followed! For your own safety! The whole reason you all are supposed to come here immediately after a successful run is because the Police and the Turks are still going to be at the scene or haven't even discovered the missing items yet! They won't be in any position to go looking about for you guys! They haven't had time to put together a strategy! But today! You just had to go against the procedures! It's routine! You do the same thing every time. How do you forget? Why? Just why, Genesis?!"

Genesis winced at the sudden pointed use of his name.

"I know you know the rules! All of you know the rules! Just because Angeal isn't the one driving, it doesn't mean that you all just suddenly forget! I will have words when you all arrive! That is assuming you arrive! I'm not bailing you guys out if you get captured! Don't expect us to go in and bust your asses out of wherever they decide to put you!"

There was a sudden moment of relative silence as something not quite like arguing but close enough ensued on the other end. Then she was back and yelling again.

"You all had better get here without being caught! Or followed! Because, so help me, if they follow you here, oh there will be a whole lot worse than hell to pay! You can count on it!"

The click from the other end signified the call had ended and still no one spoke. It was another minute before anyone said anything. When they did, it was Angeal who spoke.

"Well," was all he said.

"At least there's a plan for this," Zack suddenly chirped. Angeal nodded. Yes, at least they had a plan.

They were in a relatively populated part of the city when Angeal pulled to the shoulder. They hadn't seen any suspicious vehicles following yet so this place was good enough for now. They didn't stop long. As soon as the truck was more-or-less stopped, Zack and Cloud jumped out of the back seat and quickly grabbed up a bag each from the truck bed. No words were exchanged as Angeal began to speed off.

Something flew from Genesis window and Zack caught it reflexively. When he looked back, the truck had disappeared. Zack turned to Cloud and tossed him the thing he had caught. It was one of those baggy kind of train-conductor looking caps. Cloud grumbled as he stuffed his distinctive spiky-blond hair beneath it. Zack didn't get a cap. He'd just have to be more careful, it seemed, and not get caught.

"Well," Zack grinned at his younger lover, giving a quick two-fingered salute. "See you later, Spiky!"

Cloud only smiled and rolled his eyes before going their separate ways, the same destination in mind.

~x~x~x~

Vincent gave no outward indication of what he could possibly be thinkin' in that moment, but Cid knew what he himself was thinkin', and if Vinnie were thinkin' anythin' like what _he_ was thinkin'; well, somebody'd better be thinkin' 'bout how they were gonna survive the red-eyed Turk's wrath.

"Yes. Find the truck, follow it, and stop it. Don't make your pursuit obvious. If they speed up, you may give chase. Otherwise, just follow at a distance." Cid listened to the Head of the Turks give orders to the others through his radio. "If possible, box the vehicle into a corner and apprehend SOLDIER."

There were affirmatives from Tseng and the others, minus Reno and Rude, and all was quiet. Cid turned to his fellow law enforcer. "This's closer than we've ever come to catchin' them no good bunch o' shits. Don' stress so much, Vinnie."

Vincent, for his part, only blinked.

"Well, c'mon," Cid shrugged and turned to walk along the sidewalk. Since they had the few officers who were on duty right now out patrolling as usual, and all six Turks were currently carrying out the task of attempting to find and capture SOLDIER; It was up to Cid and Vincent to patrol the slums tonight. At the moment, they were walking through the upper sectors and heading down by foot. Time consuming, yes, but it was one of the only times they'd ever get to be anything close to alone and not busy.

Vincent kept silent stride beside the blond Police Chief as they headed towards the city park.

~x~x~x~

Midgar was a city that never slept. There was hardly ever a time when there wasn't a horde of people bustling along from one place to another. The highway was never free of the presence of various vehicles coming and going. Driving about the city undetected was not usually so difficult. Of course, this time the Turks actually had a clue of what they were searching for. Once that bit of information was in their hands, there was just no way they could _not _see the giant truck weaving through the other cars on the road.

It took hardly anytime at all for Tseng and Elena to spot them and roll onto the freeway some car lengths behind. They relayed the location to Cissnei and Katana who were on individual motorcycles, and it wasn't long before those two had joined the flow of traffic on the main highway that ran through Midgar.

They weren't sure that they wouldn't be spotted -SOLDIER's level of intelligence and observation skills were top notch- but they were Turks, and their abilities were nothing to sneeze at.

~x~x~x~

Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth had been cruising for a while before pulling onto the main highway. Sephiroth had spotted a black Mustang that had been following before they'd joined traffic. Now it was about three cars behind them and one lane to the left. The plan was simply to lead it on for a while before finding a way to ditch it. It would be a tad difficult in a truck this size, but not impossible. Despite his looks and calm demeanor, Angeal was a road menace and a speed demon when he wanted to be.

It wasn't more than ten minutes of this laid-back game of tag when Angeal spied the two motorcyclists that had joined the 'chase'. One in the lane furthest to the left of the four-lane road and two cars back; the other in the lane furthest right, only one car behind. Turks. They all had to be Turks.

Another ten or fifteen minutes passed with Angeal leisurely switching in and out of lanes, exiting from one off ramp only to come back in on the next ramp. He was sure that if nothing else, he was driving the Turks slightly mad. Finally, an opportunity presented itself.

Two semi-trucks had come onto the freeway a little while ago and now both were in adjacent lanes, one a bit ahead of the other. Angeal had taken up a position behind the one that was further behind and continued driving. This had forced the Mustang to get into the lane to the right of him and keep two cars back. The two on the bikes had gotten into the same lane a good four cars behind the F350. It was when the Semi that was further ahead changed one lane to the right, that Angeal acted.

He gunned it, switching into the lane the truck had just been in and flooring it. His beast of a truck easily covered the distance left by the long trailer and switched lanes again. Now in front of the faster eighteen wheeler, he was pleased to note that the two on motorcycles had gotten stuck between the two large trucks and a rather slow car in front of them. Beside him Genesis was gripping the chest-strap of his seat belt a bit tighter than usual, and Angeal chuckled. He took this moment to continue with his impromptu plan.

At the next off ramp, Angeal pulled off the freeway and took the U-turn to begin heading in the opposite direction. He knew the Mustang would not have been able to follow, but he was sure the motorcyclists would be on his trail again in no time. His truck wasn't exactly subtle, after all.

One of the Turks who had been on a bike had managed to find him already. Angeal took a sudden turn onto a one way street, then another, before turning onto a main street. He continued like that, always taking left turns. It was risky, but after a while of this they managed to shake the now two Turks. It wasn't going to be a big time window, but timed lights and random direction changes at odd moments had at least given them a decent chance.

Angeal didn't even stop, only slowed along the curb, as Sephiroth and Genesis hopped out of the truck and grabbed up the two remaining bags from the truck bed. They ran off without words as Angeal sped up and continued forward.

Now that the goods and the familiar faces were on their own, Angeal could relax. With a pleased smile, he slowed to more of a cruise and drove on, a set destination in mind by the time the Turks caught up again.

~x~x~x~

Cloud had taken a little longer than he had meant to while strolling along the streets of Midgar towards home. They hadn't been dropped off too far from the apartments, but Cloud hadn't wanted to draw attention to himself by running. He was just a random teenager walking back home with his load of freshly washed laundry. If anyone asked, which no one had, but at least he had a relatively plausible alibi. People did their laundry at night all the time.

…

…

No one had asked! So there.

So it was a good twenty minutes and some change later when he waltzed around the corner to their apartment complex. It was by sheer luck that Jesse, the nice young woman that manned the front desk and showed potential residents around the building, ran into him before he reached the place.

"Cloud!"

"Jesse?" Cloud tilted his head and looked up to see her only a few feet ahead and walking towards him. How had she even recognized him without the hair. She came up to him and smiled. There was relief in her tone when she spoke again.

"That's good. I thought maybe you'd gotten into some kind of trouble."

"Why would you think that?" Cloud had to ask. It seemed suspicious that she would think something like that when she thought he was a sweet innocent little angel most days.

"These two guys came in a little while ago and started asking questions about you and the others. I didn't know what they wanted so I didn't tell them anything, but Scarlet spilled. I wasn't sure what happened, but I'm glad you're alright." She smiled at him and began to walk off. "Be careful, ok, Cloud?"

Reno and Rude, most likely. He mentally rolled his eyes. Cloud nodded and told her he would with a little wave before heading more stealthily towards home, a scowl on his baby face.

He wasn't surprised when he came into the first floor parking garage through the emergency exit and spied a handful of police guards lurking around his precious bike. He took a moment, crouched behind a random car, to think about it before just giving up and straightening. He waltzed right up to the men, who all stared with varying degrees of confusion, and quite suddenly rushed them.

They dropped like flies.

Cloud didn't even bother to wait around and get found out. Stuffing the bag he'd been carrying into the compartment of his motorcycle, the blond pulled the keys to Fenrir from his back pocket. With a wide grin, the youngest member of SOLDIER jumped onto his prized bike and peeled out of there.

It wasn't until he'd reached the first light at the street corner that he noticed he was still wearing that god-awful hat. He ripped it off and tossed it, pulling on a helmet instead. As much as he hated wearing the helmet, it wouldn't be good to be spotted leaving the city on his already very distinctive motorcycle on account of his bright blond hair. At least Fenrir had a silent mode. Imagine trying to make a getaway on a massive bike that roared like a dragon.

The light flashed green and Cloud was off.

~x~x~x~

Zack crouched behind the half-wall that ran along the edge of the roof of the building he was currently on. Zack had decided to take the longer route back home. He had to be much stealthier on account of his hair, but he didn't mind. He was a pretty sneaky person, so he was all for it.

He had chosen the path with more buildings and dark alleyways. First chance he'd gotten, the usually hyper young man climbed up the side of a decent-sized building. Parkour was one thing he was good at, and he enjoyed putting it to good use. So long as he didn't miss a step or his hand slipped or something equally _bad_. He'd scaled that wall and proceeded to hop around like a crazy person from roof to roof, ninja-style! Occasionally, he'd have to drop into an alley when there was no building close enough to jump to, but mostly he stuck to the rooftops.

In this manner, he had made it to the very familiar roof of his apartment building and was now taking a moment to catch his breath.

"Okay! Down we go!" Zack announced to the empty night air and stood. He jumped over the edge.

The puppy was entirely too grateful for the silence that met his landing. He would have cried if the metal platform of the fire escape stairway had announced his presence and utter forgetfulness to the world. But, he remembered that Sephiroth maintained the stairs specifically so that they would not make any noise should they ever need to use it.

"Thank you, Sephiroth!" Zack quietly cheered and began to make his way down the fire escape.

As he passed by the window that led to their living room, he paused. The light was on. Why was the light on?

"Well, I ain't found nothin' in here, yo! I'm headin' to the bedroom," a very familiar voice floated from inside and Zack's eyes narrowed. He leaned further forward to try and catch a glimpse of red hair. There was no affirmative word or sound, but Zack was sure that where there was Reno there was Rude.

"Fuck," Zack cursed. He had a dilemma. Go in and attempt to stealthily grab up the important things, or head down and make a clean getaway. The spiky-haired SOLDIER sat there a minute contemplating his next move. In the end, he threw planning to the wind and headed down the stairs as silently as possible. Screw plans, he was a spontaneous kinda guy!

"Let's just wing it!" he grinned.

Landing on the ground without bothering to pull down the last bit of step-ladder, the wily puppy loped off towards the garage emergency exit. He took note of it being already used and smiled. Cloud had been there and gone already. Zack wasn't at all surprised when he sauntered in and found about five or six guards lying around. It looked like they were coming around, though, so he quickly knocked them out again. A lot less subtly than Cloud had, however, simply giving them a good hard whack to the back of their heads.

Zack bypassed the once more completely unconscious guards and waltzed up to his beautiful Linda. Genesis had given him hell for naming the beat up yellow pick up truck something like Linda, though he would have teased him for naming _any_ car such a name. But the raven-haired youth loved her.

Quickly, he threw the bag he'd been toting about into the non-existent back seat of his beloved truck and slammed the door, not looking back as he rushed back out and up the fire escape once again.

~x~x~x~

Genesis chuckled at the put out expression he could see behind the stern frown on his silver-haired lover's face.

"Quit scowling, Sephiroth," Genesis rolled his eyes. He thought it was adorable that Sephiroth was acting like a pouty child, but it had been close to an hour now. "I think it's cute."

"Exactly," Sephiroth frowned (he did _not _pout). "I do not enjoy being thought of as cute."

Genesis tried to stop the smile at the visage before him, but failed. Sephiroth - The Silver Demon, Sephiroth - was stood beside him wearing a black kitty-cat beanie. Long silver hair was twisted up and stuffed beneath the knit cap, silver bangs hung alongside the braided yarn that dangled from the earflaps on either side of Seph's face, and two black cat ears peaked from the top of his head. Genesis couldn't help the quick laugh that escaped him.

"It's cute," he stated again, grinning now. "We can always switch if you really want to."

Sephiroth's scowl returned. Sitting atop Genesis head was a panda beanie pulled tight over bright auburn locks.

"No."

Genesis snorted. As soon as they'd been 'clear' of Angeal's truck and in a place where Turk eyes weren't present, Genesis had pulled the two hats from the infinite recesses of his pocket-riddled red jacket. They'd 'disguised' themselves, Genesis had stuffed his conspicuous jacket into the bag he carried, and they headed in the direction of the 'rendezvous point' otherwise known as 'the same place they always met up when shit happened'.

Now they were walking at a leisurely pace through the park while keeping an eye out for Turks. It was a less populated area, in fact there was no one in sight at the moment, but it was a shortcut on their way to the meeting place. The most patrol there ever was were a few low level rookies, anyway. They should be fine.

It was as Genesis was about to hand out another teasing remark that they heard a voice.

"Hey, Vinnie," the familiar gruff voice spoke from somewhere ahead and around a corner. "I think I heard somebody that-a-way."

Genesis let out a not quite silent curse and prepared to make a run for it. He did not feel like having a run in with Cid and the Head of the Turks, as he assumed Vinnie was Vincent Valentine. Before he could do much more than lean forward, however, he found himself being shoved forcefully against a thick tree trunk.

The redhead gasped as his back hit the hard surface and suddenly Sephiroth's hands were at this waist, fingers teasing along the skin above his pants, and Sephiroth's lips were on him, nipping along the junction of neck and jaw. He nearly moaned when Sephiroth's leg pressed between his own.

The tree trunk he'd been pushed into was digging into his back through the fabric of his sweater vest, but he hardly noticed as Sephiroth's tongue invaded his mouth. The auburn-haired man reached forward, wrapping his arms around his lover's neck and pulled him closer. _Why _they had gotten into a situation like this was the furthest thing from Genesis' mind as Sephiroth explored his mouth, neck, and jawline with teeth and tongue.

It was only a moment later that the kissing and groping abruptly ceased and Genesis was left in a 'what the fuck' state of 'huh?' leaning against the tree, attempting to piece the situation back together in his head. Sephiroth's deep chuckle sent a shiver through him and pulled his mind back into a semblance of order. Quickly, he dusted himself off and straightened up.

"Mm," he licked his lips and smirked at his entirely too sensual lover. "We'll have to continue that some time."

"Indeed," Sephiroth answered with a smirk of his own. "But at the moment we should get going."

Genesis only sighed and began walking again.

"If we must, we must."

Sephiroth shook his head but smirked and followed behind his dramatic lover.

~x~x~x~

"Tch." Vincent looked over at Cid with one eyebrow raised as the man stomped back towards him. "Just a couple o' damn horny teenagers, can't keep a tight leash on their fuckin' need to jump into each other's pants. Don't they have any patience or self-control? Don't they know that people don't wanna see them making out at every street corner? Little shits! I mean what if..."

The Head of the Turks tuned out his partner's ranting, only just holding in a sigh, and walked ahead once more. He had learned by now just to let the captain rant, eventually he would tire of going on and settle for giving the occasional grunt instead. Behind him, Cid raved on.

~x~x~x~

_~I should've known better than to cheat a friend~ _

Angeal absently reached to turn the volume up, singing along as he checked the rearview mirror.

_~And waste a chance that I'd been given~_

He'd been driving now for a good while, seemingly going in one random direction after another. Behind him he could see that the black Mustang wasn't coming back. Some minutes ago it had turned around for some reason. He only hoped it didn't mean that the others had been caught.

_~So I'm never gonna dance again~_

The two on bikes were still on him, tailing him more effectively than before due to the smaller mass of the vehicles and the dwindling amount of traffic. Angeal looked down at his wristwatch and gave the smallest tilt of the lips in a smirk. The dark-haired man deftly changed lanes and exited the main street.

_~The way I danced with you~_

Destination: Sector 5 Slums.

~x~x~x~

Cissnei maneuvered her bike through traffic with Katana just ahead of her on his own motorcycle. The massive black truck they'd been following for Gaia knew how long was only two cars ahead, having pulled off the main road at an uncannily difficult moment for them. The actions of the driver throughout this not-quite car chase had thrown them on their theories. They weren't even sure anymore if this _was_ a member of SOLDIER or just some random person who lived in the same apartment complex.

Approaching the slums of Sector 5, Katana slowed down ahead of her and she slowed alongside him. The truck had pulled into the dirt yard of an old church that looked like it had seen better days. The truck's engine stopped and a moment later a burly man with somewhat shaggy black hair stepped out. He didn't even pause or look around, heading straight for the entrance of the church. The man slipped in silently, the doors creak seemed to echo in the sudden quiet of the place. It was only then that Cissnei noticed that there were no sounds in this area at all, no people or car noises. It was serene.

Frankly, it creeped the orange-haired woman the heck out.

"Let's go," Katana's voice broke the somehow tense quiet and Cissnei exhaled with a nod. Together they walked up to the large building and went in.

~x~x~x~

Angeal didn't bother to stand up when he first heard the footsteps outside. He didn't even turn to acknowledge his pursuers as they stepped into the church. He sat still, hunched over slightly as if in deep thought, eyes closed, and waited. It was only when the two were stood right in front of him that he looked up. A pleasant smile stretched on his lips as he gave a nod of greeting to the suited pair before him.

"May I help you?" he asked politely, looking up at the both of them instead of simply standing. It was the orange-haired woman that spoke first.

"We just wanted to ask you a few questions concerning an event that occurred earlier today," She smiled. "If that's alright with you, of course."

"Of course," Angeal nodded and gestured to the pew beside him. His offer to sit was ignored, but he didn't mind. He'd only done it to be polite. There was no more formality as the questioning began.

"Where were you at roughly 2100 hours tonight?" Angeal had to restrain a smirk at the very cliché question, but answered truthfully.

"In my apartment."

"Can anyone verify that?"

"The receptionist at the front desk of the apartment complex." Jesse didn't know anything about them, but she _had_ seen him at home earlier. She could back up his alibi. Besides, he wasn't lying.

"That truck you're driving," it was the black-haired Turk that spoke now. "It's very unique. Unnecessarily large. I would say it's the only one of it's kind in Midgar."

Angeal nodded to this. It was just an observation, though he knew for certain that there were two other F350's in Midgar. One belonged to the president of ShinRa Electric Power Company, though he never drove it. The other one belonged to a friend of Zack's called Essai. In fact, he had bought it on a dare from the puppy. Angeal almost chuckled but caught himself and returned his attention to the bespectacled Turk who was still talking.

"…similar vehicle earlier tonight. Could you tell us with absolute certainty that your truck was not the one reported?"

Angeal paused, giving the illusion that he had to think about his answer. After a moment he shrugged.

"I cannot say with absolute certainty that it is not the car claimed to have been seen. I, however, did not drive my truck at anytime around nine o'clock tonight."

Again, this was the truth. There was no way to keep the Turks from thinking it was his truck that had been there. It really was his truck, after all. The Turks had to be aware that there were two other trucks like his in the city of Midgar, though. They couldn't do anything with just the idea that maybe it was his car. It wasn't one-hundred percent. He knew that, they knew that, and the Turks would not act if they weren't one-hundred percent sure.

From there the questions continued. Angeal answered each one as vaguely and still truthfully as possible. Finally, it seemed the questions had come to an end.

"Alright," Katana, as it had to be the only Turk they hadn't encountered much, breathed. "We're done here. We only have one more request."

"And what would that be?" Angeal asked, looking curious though he knew what was coming.

"We'd simply like to take a look at your truck. Just to make sure," the petite female chirped with a disarming smile. "If we don't find anything, you're good to go and we'll leave you alone. It's just procedure. At this point it doesn't seem like you're the guy we're looking for."

"I understand, follow me." Angeal gave the most understanding smile he could and stood up, turning and leading them out of the church and straight to where he'd parked 'The Monster'. Nickname courtesy of Genesis. He didn't see the harm in letting them check. There was nothing to give them away in the truck, the others had taken the bags with them.

~x~x~x~

Once they reached the truck, the man they'd been told was named 'Brad' gave them a nod and the pair of Turks began a thorough search of the interior, the underside, and the bed. It only took a few minutes before Cissnei was walking over to let him off the hook. It didn't seem like this guy had anything to do with that bunch of thieves. The truck hadn't had anything in it, either.

Just as she gave him a bright smile and began to apologize for the inconvenience and thank him for his time and patience, there was a sudden sound of clinking metal. She turned to see what had caused the noise and nearly gasped at the familiar weapon dangling from one of Katana's gloved hands.

Sapphire's bugworm.

Cissnei's eyes narrowed at the mechanism and she spun quickly on her heel to shout at the man they had begun to suspect was innocent. She hadn't even turned completely before she was quite suddenly hauled off the ground and sent flying straight towards her partner. Katana only just managed to dodge, but not quite effectively.

Cissnei barreled into him at an odd angle and both lost their footing, landing in the dust a couple meters from the truck's bed. It wasn't even a half a second later that the roaring engine of the massive vehicle filled the once calm place. The Turks hadn't even fully stood up before the truck was out of sight.

Katana let out a rare curse and rushed for his bike, Cissnei quickly following suit. She couldn't believe they had been so careless and stupid. The petite Turk ground her teeth as she straddled her bike and raced in the direction that 'Brad' had gone, Katana right alongside her.

~x~x~x~

Angeal hadn't panicked per se. He'd only momentarily blanked, was all. He hoped he hadn't hurt the female by throwing her so suddenly through the air. Sometimes he forgot his own strength. He had only wanted to get away as quickly as possible without a fight. As soon as he'd made sure that both Turks were on the ground, Angeal had rushed forward, grabbed up Cloud's fallen weapon and jumped into his truck. He had gunned it the second he could and zoomed out of the area in seconds.

Of course, he didn't feel like driving everywhere in a pointless car chase. He was faced with two options. The first, let them chase him for a while and then shake them. Or, the better choice in his opinion, lose them now and hope they don't come back looking for him before the others could get here. It was a risk either way, but he felt that he could pull off the second option better than the first with The Monster.

Decided, Angeal checked to make sure there were no Turks behind him yet. Seeing nothing, he recklessly pulled a sharp left into an old abandoned warehouse that was mostly in tact. Getting into the darkest corner he could, Angeal shut off the engine and waited. Hopefully this would work.

Angeal nearly sighed with relief when only minutes later two blurs raced across the opening of the warehouse. It looked like his pursuers hadn't thought to check in the abandoned buildings for a truck the size of a young dragon. Now, as long as they didn't come back anytime too soon, all would be fine. For now, Angeal decided he would wait a while longer where he was before heading back to the church to await his lovers.

~x~x~x~

Zack Fair was not a ninja. He was only a thief with a hyperactive personality and a love of shiny things. That wasn't to say that he couldn't be a ninja if he wanted to. Despite his tendency to act loud and easygoing, the porcupine-haired young man could be silent as the grave when he needed to be. Right now, he needed to be.

The puppy had climbed as noiselessly as physically possible back up the fire escape and was crouched just outside the living room window of their apartment. He had waited until Reno had headed on down the hallway and Rude went his own way into the kitchen. Now, he utilized all his skill to pry the window open soundlessly and slither into the room through the ("this thing could stand to be a bit bigger") window. He wouldn't even have bothered to do this if he hadn't needed to. But while they never kept anything incriminating in their places of residence, there _was _one thing that could cause problems if the Turks brought it in.

The Home Phone.

The PHS they used as the landline for their home had all of their phone numbers logged into it, as well as Tech's numbers and various contacts around the globe. None of those numbers should ever land in the hands of the police. They were all good people, they didn't need the MPD going after them for SOLDIER's stupidity. It was their fault that the Turks had found the apartment, it was up to them to make sure that PHS was not confiscated.

And so, that's what Zack was doing.

He really hoped that Reno had continued down into one of the bedrooms and wasn't lingering in the hall, because that's where the phone was. Zack walked silent as a cat through the living room and into the hallway, restraining a sigh of relief when he found that the red-haired turkey wasn't in there. He grinned and snatched up the PHS from the hall table. His quick movement, unfortunately, nudged the pen that had also been on the table.

Zack watched as the pen rolled in seeming slow motion and fell over the edge of the table. Reflex kicked in and Zack jerked forward, catching the thing before it could touch the ground. Before he could let out a relieved breath, there was a clatter. Violet eyes widened at the sound and he looked down. There, spinning on the linoleum flooring of the hallway, was the PHS he'd just been holding. Zack couldn't help it, he let out a curse.

A familiar voice and the sound of footsteps met his ears then and Zack panicked. Shit! The second youngest SOLDIER scrambled for the PHS on the floor and stood up in time to catch eyes with a smirking Reno. Zack almost laughed when he took in the overall appearance of the redhead. He looked hilarious. It was obvious he hadn't had a chance to clean up since their encounter earlier that night. A taunt was on the tip of Zack's tongue, but he really should be getting out of there…

Zack grinned and threw something to the ground, one of the smoke bombs he kept on his wristband. The hall and living room filled with dark grey smoke in seconds and Zack raced for the front door. Unable to resist, Zack threw back, "Lookin' good, Reno!" before speeding towards the stairs.

"That damn Wolfe!" Reno's sputtered shout echoed from behind him. Zack laughed as he ran down the stairs three and four at a time. It wasn't long before he could hear the footsteps above him and knew that the pair of turkeys were quickly following after him. Zack wasted no time, increasing his speed, practically jumping down whole flights of stairs in his effort to get away faster. It was with relief that he finally made it to the parking garage. The puppy didn't even pause as he jumped the final bit of stairs and hopped over the still unconscious guards, making a mad dash for his beat up yellow pick up. Thankfully, Reno and Rude were still a while away.

Zack flung open the front door and hopped in, slamming it shut and hunkering down out of sight. Silently, he waited.

~x~x~x~

'Bam!'

The sound of the stairwell door seemed to vibrate through the quiet garage. Reno and Rude rushed in and paused when there was no sign of the Puppy.

"Dammit, yo! He got away!" Reno groused loudly, assuming from the knocked out guards that they had taken too long in catching up. Pulling a cig from his breast pocket, Reno crossed his arms and huffed. It didn't look like they were going to catch the spiky-haired SOLDIER now that he'd managed to escape them. Just in case, they should probably radio in to Tseng and see what he wanted them to do.

"_Tseng here."_

The boss's voice came over the earpiece. Reno clears his throat.

"Uh, hey, boss!" Reno greeted. He could hear Tseng sigh on the other end.

"_What happened, Reno?"_

"Who said anythin' happened, yo? I just wanted to report in," Reno huffed. Tseng remained silent and Reno sighed. "Fine, Fine. Geez, yo! So here's what happened! We were checkin out the apartment like ya told us to do, and all of a sudden there's this noise in the hallway. Well, I go and check what it is and there's the Puppy standin' there like he owns the place. I was gonna rush at him and maybe tackle 'im or somethin' but the guy goes and throws up a smoke screen and runs away. So we chased him."

Reno stopped to catch his breath, but didn't continue. Tseng grunted.

"_And…"_

"And so we didn't catch up in time and he got away."

There was another tired sigh from Tseng's end before the Wutaian Turk spoke again.

"_Head back up to the apartment and continue searching. Elena and I are not far from your location. We will be there shortly."_

There were no more words from either Turk after that. Reno lit the cig he'd been holding the entire time between his lips and sighed.

"Well, let's get goin', yo."

"Should we wake them?" His usually silent partner asked, leaning his head just slightly in the direction of the fallen guards. Reno waved a hand dismissively.

"Nah, leave 'em, yo. Useless bastards deserve the old coot's wrath. Captain's gonna chew them a good one when he gets here."

Rude only shrugged. The both of them turned and walked back through the door they'd come from, Rude snapping it closed as he passed.

~x~x~x~

Zack only waited one more minute before he quickly sat up and started his baby up. Without another glance back, he puttered out of the garage. He wasn't too worried about getting caught. No one ever suspects the beat up yellow pick up truck.

~x~x~x~

"Ah, finally," Genesis groaned dramatically as the familiar church in the slums of Sector 5 came into view. Sephiroth only rolled his eyes with a fond smile beside him. They pushed open the large wooden doors and walked into the serene sanctuary within. A familiar head of spiky blonde hair met their gazes and Sephiroth was the first to speak.

"Angeal's not here yet?"

Cloud turned his head and smiled. He shook his head and pointed down at his lap. Both Sephiroth and Genesis came closer to peer over the blonde's shoulders. Genesis grinned. Angeal lay across the pew, head pillowed in Cloud's lap. He looked comfortable. Sephiroth smirked.

"I see."

"That's not very fair," Genesis drawled, slinking around the bench to come closer to Cloud's side. "Why does 'Geal get to lie in your lap when all he did was drive around for a while? I had to traipse all about Midgar on foot to get here. I don't see how that can be considered equal opportunity."

Angeal's grumble was the redhead's answer and Cloud snickered.

"First come, first served, Gen," the blond quipped, a teasing grin aimed upward at the pouting man. Genesis crossed his arms and plopped beside Cloud like a petulant child. He rested his head on Cloud's shoulder in some form of spite against the unfairness of it all. Sephiroth chuckled.

"I take it this means we only need to wait for Zackary and then we can be off, correct?" the silver-haired man decided to cut to the chase. There was no verbal answer to the more or less rhetorical question, but Cloud gave a nod anyway.

"We'll wait a while longer, if he doesn't get in touch by then we can send Cloud to look in on the situation while the rest of us go ahead," Angeal spoke from his place on the Chocobo's lap. He hadn't opened his eyes or sat up, but he had been awake since Genesis had spoken from outside earlier.

Genesis snorted at the fact that Angeal had been awake this entire time. In retrospect, it should've been obvious. He resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at the dark-haired man. Sephiroth strolled further into the room and crouched among the white and yellow lilies that grew like wildflowers across the front half of the church. There were no words spoken for a while as each man reveled in the calm around them. It always felt as if time stood still in this place.

_~There is no place safe and no safe place to put my head~ _The silence was broken quite suddenly. _~You can feel the whole world shaking from the words that were said~_

Angeal sat up and patted his pockets, searching for his PHS. It took him a second to remember that he had set the device aside so that he could more comfortably lay across the bench.

_~And I… I'm calling all Angels~ _Angeal bent over and pulled his PHS off the floor, ignoring Genesis' chuckle. _~And I… I'm calling all you Ange-~_

"Hello," Angeal smiled as he answered, already knowing by the ringtone that it was Zack who was calling. The Puppy had made it a rule that they would all program new ringtones for each other into their PHS's every month. It wasn't an unreasonable rule and in the time they had carried it out there had been some humorous incidents. This had been the ringtone Zack had chosen for himself on Angeal's phone this month.

"_Hiya, Ange! I made it out alive so I'm headin' straight for the bluff! You can go ahead and head out without me, I'll meet you there. Are the others there yet?" _Zack spoke cheerfully on the other end.

"Yes, Puppy, they're here," Angeal chuckled. "Be careful and don't drive recklessly. You don't know when that rust bucket of a car is going to die on you. Be wary of any Turks that may be following. Don't lead them to HQ. Don't get caught. Try not to-"

"_Yeah, Yeah, Angeal, I got it. Don't be such a worry wart."_

Genesis snorted.

"_And no hatin' on my baby! Linda would never give out on me. She's a trooper!"_

Angeal laughed again and shook his head.

"Okay, Zack. Just be careful. We'll see you there."

"_Roger that, 'Geal! See ya!"_

There was the sound of the line disconnecting and Angeal clapped his own PHS shut. The large man stood fully and patted dust from his pants. Sephiroth had come over and Genesis stood as well.

"Well, let's get going," the auburn-haired SOLDIER declared, not one to be patient about these things. The sooner they got out of Midgar the sooner he could sleep. Hopefully. There was no telling with those she-devils in sheep's clothing. Best not to think of such things until they came, however. He turned to go.

"You guys go ahead," Cloud's voice stopped them and they turned to see the young blond crouched in the flowers. "I'll meet you there, too. I want to do something first."

Angeal tilted his head and Sephiroth arched one silver eyebrow in question, but it was Genesis who grinned and gave a low laugh. He understood perfectly when Cloud stood back up with five perfect lilies in hand and a slight smirk of his own on his baby face.

"You heard the Chicobo! Let's go!" Genesis clapped his hands once and ushered the other two out the doors. "See you there, Li'l 'bo!"

~x~x~x~

Cloud laughed and waved goodbye as the doors closed behind his three lovers. He decided to pick a few more of the flowers at his feet as he listened to the roar of the Monster fade. There was no telling when the next time they'd see this place would be.

Having picked a decent amount of the white and yellow lilies, Cloud headed out to Fenrir and hopped on, keeping his engine on silent as he sped out of the slums and back towards what was no longer their place of residence.

It wasn't long before he arrived and found a building at the perfect height and distance from their old apartment from which to carry out his plans. The youngest member of SOLDIER parked Fenrir in the darkest corner of an alley and scaled the wall of the building he'd chosen, not wanting to be caught by using the stairs inside and knowing that if he used the fire escape he would make too much noise. He wasn't quite as good as Zack was at that whole 'way of the ninja' crap, but he could manage.

Reaching the top, Cloud found the best spot he could and stood straight, checking the angle of decent and calculating power and speed. He pulled something from seemingly nowhere and tied it to a long thin object. Once he was sure they were attached securely and wouldn't fly apart, Cloud pulled his arm back and let it fly.

There was the satisfying crash of glass as the object flew through the window of their former apartment and Cloud smirked when he heard a shout that sounded distinctly like a certain redhead Turk. Cloud didn't bother to hang around after that, however, and hightailed it out of there on the back of Fenrir.

~x~x~x~

"And like I told ya earlier," Reno drawled from the rather comfortable couch in the living room of SOLDIER's apartment. "I assumed there was a long enough gap between his gettin' down there and us gettin' there. So he got away. Wouldn't you believe it, I got the idea to check the surveillance tapes for the garage and the darn things don't even work. I mean, why have cameras if you ain't gonna keep 'em workin'?"

Rude gave a grunt of agreement from where he stood against the wall behind him. Tseng refused to let out an exasperated sigh. He did, however, massage his temples with his thumb and forefingers. He and Elena had arrived only a couple of minutes after the earlier call from the redhead.

They'd wasted no time going up and searching every inch of the top floor for anything incriminating. It was uncanny, they hadn't found so much as a hair. It wasn't even possible to leave literally nothing behind. But while various furniture dotted the rooms, there was nothing of any personal value or that could serve as evidence in the house.

Something like this, it simply wasn't possible.

"I dunno what Puppy was doin' here, yo," Reno continued when no one said anything. "Maybe he didn't know we were here? I don't think that's the case but you never know." The redhead shrugged. " Hey, what if the-"

Crash!

Reno cut off his own sentence with a yelp at the sudden sound of shattering glass.

"What was that, yo!?"

Tseng said nothing, ignoring both Reno's exclamation and Elena's subsequent giggles as he approached the broken window. He crouched to inspect what had come through the window. It was a steal arrow with a blunt end. Attached to the shaft of the arrow was…

"_Cissnei reporting, sir."_

"Report," Tseng ordered, not pausing in his inspection of the object in his hand.

"_We are currently minutes from your location. Katana and I followed the truck and its driver down to the slums beneath the Sector Five plate. There, he stopped at a church and entered. We engaged and questioned him. There was no indication that he was in any way affiliated with the band of thieves known as SOLDIER. Upon inspection of the vehicle in question, all seemed to check out. However, Katana found what appeared to be the weapon belonging to Strife of SOLDIER. In the end, the man we had questioned evaded us and drove away. Upon pursuit, we lost the target."_

Tseng frowned as he listened.

"_Should we continue searching?"_

"No," The Wutaian man did sigh then. The connection was shut and Tseng clenched his fists around the items in his hand. A note tied with fancy blue ribbon to the stems of five lilies: four white one yellow.

_~ Better Luck Next Time ~_

_From SOLDIER with Love_

**-x-x-x-**

**AN: **And with that, the third chapter is done! Woot! Not sure if I ended that right, but oh well. And I changed the title of this chapter from 'It's a Caucus Race!' to Yakity Sax. A Prize of some kind to the people who can tell me… one: where they think the hideout is. And two: who the members of Tech are. A third prize if you can guess where the title 'From SOLDIER with Love' came from. Okay? Okay!

**Just Some Stuffs  
**1) It might seem like the timing in this chapter is all screwed up, that's because I wasn't sure exactly what order I should write certain scenes in. But, I like the way it turned out for the most part. Just assume that most of this stuff is happening all at the same time, alright? Okay! Good.

2) If it feels like there are a lot of transitions in this chapter, it's because there are. There were a few different points of view and I apologize if it got annoying or confusing, though it shouldn't have. In any case, I apologize, but it will most likely be this way when Turks are involved. Just letting you know.

3) If my escape plan seems stupid and farfetched and not very well thought out on my part, that's because it is. So sue me, I'm not very creative when it comes to things like this. Still, I don't think I did to bad, all things considered.

4) Want to see Angeal's truck?Go Here - http: slash slash il204 dot photo bucket dot com slash albums slash bb416 slash YaoiWolf_TeruHayashi slash OFFRAOD-F350 dot jpeg. Just delete spaces, add dots and slashes, etc.  
The car Tseng and Elena are in all the same until the last slash so - YaoiWolf_TeruHayashi slash 20130625_194542. If these links don't work, I'm sorry. You'll just have to imagine.  
I'm sure you all know what Fenrir looks like, and if you want to know what Zack's truck looks like… FF7 Crisis Core. It's the truck Zack and Cloud were in when they were almost to Midgar. Ugh I still hate that I love that scene. Damn Zack and his last stand. Gen and Seph have their own vehicles that I may or may not bring up later on. Just know that I heart sexy cars and there will be quite a few belonging to various main characters in this fan fiction.

5) Kunsel. I love Kunsel. Up and coming Turk? Maybe… or I might take him in a completely new direction. Any opinions or ideas on that? Please PM or review! And Jesse, Scarlet, and Elfe cameo! Why? Because I can! Besides, I needed random women for that and I figured, might as well, they probably won't pop up again.

6) Wondering what the fuck is up with the bags they're toting everywhere? Well, like I explained last chapter, all the junk they stole from the museum is in there along with some valuables from the apartment they'd decided to take along. Now you're wondering how the shit they stick in those bags isn't broken and messed up by now, right? Think of it as Harry Potter meets Mary Poppins and just go with that. Okay? Basically the bag is like a condensed space that contains an abyss, except that stuff isn't lost, it's just there. Remember, Mary Poppins!

7) Yes, Fenrir has a silent mode.

8) Zackary Fair is a Ninja!

9) And his truck is named Linda (in Spanish! So the I sounds like a long E) because I just had to have Zack name his truck. As opposed to Angeal's nameless truck, though Zack calls it Beast and Genesis calls it The Monster.

10) The pockets in Genesis favorite red jacket, which is like his duster without the long trench-y part of it, are the same as the bags. That's where he kept the hats. Don't worry, he still has the duster. He just doesn't wear it as often. As for the hats, he has them because he likes them and they come in handy. Yes, I own both of those beanies~ I love them. Wear them often.

11) I dunno where that random park scene with Seph and Gen came from…

12) Angeal's is listening to the Seether cover of Careless Whisper. I imagine that if Angeal sang, he would sound amazing. And yes, the characters I write sing. Why Seether? Because the Seether version sounds better than the original and I love it. Why did I add seemingly unnecessary music? Because I could. And I personally think Angeal would enjoy listening to music while pointlessly meandering around the city to lead the Turks on a wild goose chase and buy time for his lovers. So there.

13) Why Katana? Because he was my favorite. I needed an even number of Turks and as it was, Cissnei didn't have a partner. So Reno Rude, Tseng Elena, Cissnei Katana, Vincent Veld. Veld just hasn't popped up yet. I may or may not bring Legend in later. We'll see. Uh, again, I LOVE the Turks… I don't mean to make it seem like their dumb or incompetent.

14) Aerith's church is an otherworldly place. I hope that came across.

15) Remember, Angeal is the only member of SOLDIER, not including Tech, that the Turks and Police have no knowledge of. They don't even know that he _is _a part of the thief group until now. 'Brad' is not in anyway a permanent alias, just a name he gave the Turks off the top of his head. Honestly, my brother suggested it when I asked because I couldn't think of anything. I laughed, so I used it.

16) Frankly, I'm surprised Zack didn't roll down the stairs once or twice on the way down…

17) Calling All Angels by Train as the personalized ringtone for Zack on Angeal's phone, yes. If you have to ask why, think harder. Zack picked it himself. They pick songs for themselves on each others phones every month. So remember that any ringtones that pop up in this story are intentional. Okay? Kay!

18) Yeah, Cloud's a mini-Genesis in some aspects. And yeah, he can shoot an arrow from a bow with the best of them. Sephiroth taught him. Don't ask…

19) Um… If you all completely ignore these random things at the end, that's fine. If you read them, that's awesome! If you read them, but hate that I put them here, tell me, and depending on the goods or bads that I get, I may or may not stop doing this. I just like to rant about random things throughout my story… Most people don't have to read it. In fact, I'm sure most of you don't. By all means, skip all of this If you don't want to read it. It's not really important.

And So! I hope you all enjoyed it! Now then, please PM or Review! Or both! Much love to all you amazing readers!


	4. Author's Note - Apology

From SOLDIER with Love

~An Author's Note~

First, let me begin by saying that I absolute despise doing this, updating a chapter that is only an author's note. I hate it when other people do it and I absolutely refused to do this, I still can't believe I've resorted to it, but! After much deliberation, there is no other choice. So, here I give you this horrid letdown that is a simple author's note of explanation. I apologize and believe me, I will try my hardest to make it up to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers. Sorry.

Now then, here is the reason I've resorted to doing this. An explanation.

Due to an unfortunate event, the next chapter will not be uploaded for quite a while and for that I am apologizing. Please be patient with me. While I had been writing the next chapter, my muse decided to go drive her motorcycle off the edge of a long highway that was still in construction and catapult into a helicopter, thereby blowing herself and said helicopter to pieces. No worries, the dratted muse is fine… the Turks in the copter, not so much… but they'll live. As Genesis mentioned, they're like cockroaches. And so, this left me with half a chapter I have no clue how to continue and a million doubts as to whether I should scrap it and start again or try to keep going along the thread I began.

As for the reason this will not be updated. While I could force myself to simply write anything and call it a chapter. I don't want to do this. So I won't. That isn't the main issue here. The issue is this: My laptop has finally quit on me. It will no longer turn on at all and so I have one of two options to choose from. I can wait until I get a new laptop, which may take a while. Or I could start over completely on another computer if I can find someone who will let me use theirs. That being said, both options will take a while and I don't know how long that while may be.

And that is why I'm uploading this note instead of a chapter. At the library, on one of their computers using their internet. Now you may get angry at me if you wish. I just wanted to tell everyone who may have been wondering, what was going on. No worries, I will not abandon this fic – Plotless though it may be at the moment. Rest assured that when I do upload the actual chapter, it will replace this note and I will personally PM anyone on the alert/favorite list to tell them when that happens.

Much Love and Deep Sincerity,

YaoiWolf

PS. **TanakilNova**! You must give me some way to reply personally to your reviews! Create an account or whatever, but I would like to be able to thank you for the wonderfully long reviews and to tell you when you have won a prize. As it is, you have won a prize, so I wanted to tell you about it. You have a choice of having one chapter of whatever you wish to happen in my SOLDIER story, or a oneshot written by me of anything you'd like. There you go, that is your reward for correctly guessing the whereabouts of the hideout. Zack's Cliff. Think about it, and find some way to tell me what you would like. Alright? Ok! As always, thanks so much for the lovely reviews.


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